Sunderland escapes drop zone
Print Edition
SUNDERLAND ground out a 2-0 win at Everton yesterday to climb out of the Premier League’s bottom three and apply heavy pressure on the teams fighting for survival around it.
Danny Graham put Sunderland ahead after 54 minutes when the striker was in the right place to deflect Jordi Gomez’s shot past Tim Howard and record his first goal for the club he joined over two years ago. Everton pushed for an equalizer but Sunderland made sure of the three points when Jermain Defoe turned in Adam Johnson’s deflected shot with five minutes remaining.
Sunderland climbed to 14th on 36 points from 35 matches and has a game in hand on all the teams around it. Everton remained 11th with 44 points.
“I’ll take that. It’s been a long time after a frustrating couple of years at the football club,” Graham told BT Sport. “The pressure is back on everyone else and we have done our job now.”
Sunderland was deep in relegation trouble a year ago until it put together a run of four successive league wins to steer clear of danger but 12 months on it arrived at Goodison Park having not won away in the league this year.
The visitors snatched the lead at the start of the second half when Graham, who had not scored in his previous 27 Sunderland appearances, deflected Gomez’s shot from the outside of the box past the outstretched Howard.
And Defoe eased the tension when he pounced after Johnson’s shot came back off defender Seamus Coleman.
Bottom side Burnley was at Hull City later needing three points and results to go its way to avoid relegation. Newcastle United was hosting West Bromwich Albion trying to end an eight-game losing streak.
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